Gone in 30 minutes - Quick speed light portraits

So I had the niece and nephew over last night and thought to myself "Hey maybe I should round up the kids and make some portraits".  So I grabbed my gear and began setting things up.  Softbox "check", Speedlight "check", 70-200 "check", location "DAMN". My condo is not very big at all and not laid out very photographer friendly, so I had to be a bit creative. I found a small corner in the back master bathroom area just in front of a door that leads to the balcony.  I quickly setup the light and snapped a few picks. The lighting was kinda working but the background was not.  I could see the door handle and also some robes we had hanging on the door.  Okay so now what? Do I take everything down? (pain in the A**), or do I get even more creative?  More creative of course, sometimes laziness forces us to be more creative. So I scrounged through the linen closet for something to hang up to cover the door and everything hanging on the door. Just my luck I came across an old shower curtain.  It had some pretty neutral colors but with the bokeh I felt it would look pretty nice. So I hung it up grabbed one of my test subjects and fired off a few shots. Bam!! I liked what I was seeing. Okay now comes the really tough part, how to get the kids to stop playing long enough to make some portraits. Bribe them of course..haha. I ended up with about 30 minutes of actual cooperation time. For the minimal set up and time it ended up being quite the nice session and some really nice pictures. Sometimes you have to make due with what time and space you are given and make the best of it.

Pass the Rock!

Basketball is my favorite sport,
I like the way they dribble up and down the court,
Just like I'm the King on the microphone, so is Dr. J and Moses Malone,
I like Slam-dunks, take me to the hoop,
My favorite play is the alley-oop,
I like the pick-and-roll, I like the give-and-go,
Cause it's Basketball, uh, Mister Kurtis Blow,

Chorus:
They're playing Basketball,
We love that Basketball,
They're playing Basketball,
We love that Basketball

So this time around we have Dylan who is all about Basketball, B-ball or Hoops whatever you want to call it.

This session was quite challenging for multiple reasons, starting with the location.  It was partially covered causing odd shadows everywhere.  Then you throw in the bright sun that decided to show up 5 minutes into the shoot, it was overcast prior, and the wind was causing all kinds of issues with my octabox (lighting). I am just really glad that Dylan was a great sport and played along with my crazy ideas and angles.

In the end, even with all the difficulties the session went well and the shots came out amazing. Dylan now has something he can proudly show off and always remember.  I can't wait to see these printed out.

One, Two, Three strikes you're out

This time around I got to work with Devin, who is preparing to enter his first year of High School. He was an absolute pleasure to work with and took direction really well.  We tried a few new things this time around and he was up for the challenge. He showed great poise and patience when we tried the same shot over and over from multiple angles.

I also played around quite a bit with different lighting styles, using more and less ambient light to create a more dramatic effect and mood. I really wanted to capture his personality (he's a smiler) but at the same time give the impression that he takes the game serious. 

Devin sounds like he is very excited about starting high school.  As he put it "I am nervous but super excited." If he continues to keep a good head on his shoulders I believe this kid has a bright future ahead of him.